Advice to “Everyman” from Reformers of the early 19th
Century… How to improve America?
1.
“Treat the mentally ill with humanity. They are NOT criminals!”
2.
Education is the key to good citizenship!
3.
People in Rochester, NY read my abolitionist newspaper, “The North Star”.
4.
Each individual is responsible for their own salvation. AWAKE and repent!
5.
Let me be your “conductor” on a “railroad” to freedom!
6.
Civil disobedience is necessary to protest an unjust law.
7.
Attention all Southern Christian women: Slavery is immoral!
8.
Lucretia and I spoke out for women’s rights in Seneca Falls, NY
9.
I’m as strong as any man, and “Ain’t I a woman?” Don’t I deserve equality?
10. Every path in life should be open to all men (slaves included) and all women. A woman has a “mind of her own”!
11. “Free the slaves NOW” was the headline in my abolitionist newspaper, “The Liberator”.
12. Life a simple life! You don’t need “things” to be happy!
13. I asked women in my Declaration of Sentiments, “If our principles are right, why should we be cowards?”
14. Education is ESSENTIAL for women’s equality!
15. I so hoped my utopian society, Brook Farm (MA), would succeed in creating a peaceful and harmonious community.
“Burned Over District of NY”
This part of western New
York became famous after
the Erie Canal for its history
of revivalism, radicalism,
communitarian experiments.
It was fertile ground for new
ideas to take root and
spread to other parts of the
country.
Charles Finney gave the
region its name, referring to
it as a "burnt district"
because so many revivals
had taken place there
during America's Second
Great Awakening.